What we are is…

A resource hub & educational tool for those who want to learn more about climate change and its impacts.

Our focus

Whether you are a homeowner concerned with how climate change will impact your property, a student working on a class report, or an elderly person concerned about future generations, this resource is for you.

There are heaps of informational websites and countless organizations working on climate change, which can make the topic a bit confusing and disorganized. Here, we have consolidates some of the most important aspects to provide those interested with a jumping off point.

Climate change is happening.

Though an incredibly complex issue, climate change is primarily occurring due to the unnatural addition of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere caused by human activities. These gases trap heat within the planetary system that would have otherwise escaped into space. There are a few different greenhouse gases that trap heat that we as humans emit. The main culprit of climate change is carbon dioxide (CO2), which is produced from the burning of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide is also more of an issue, than say methane (MH4), because it stays in the atmosphere for a longer period of time. Methane has an atmospheric lifetime of roughly 12 years while carbon dioxide can remain in the atmosphere anywhere from 300 to 1,000 years [NASA.gov, 2024]. With this additionally trapped heat, we are seeing increasingly severe changes to weather patterns, such as droughts, floods, heat waves, and much more.

The Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii is part of the U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration’s network of global monitoring laboratories. Since 1958, this lab has been recording atmospheric gas measurements within incredible rigor and high standards. The graph to the right, using their measurements, display the growing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere in parts per million (PPM).

Mauna Loa CO2 Monthly Mean (ppm)

Source: Dr. Xin Lan, NOAA/GML (gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/) and Dr. Ralph Keeling, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/). [https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/data.html]

Cool Fact! The Earth’s CO2 concentrations always fluctuate throughout the year. This is because the incredible amount of plant life takes in CO2 during photosynthesis, thereby removing it from the atmosphere. This is a gradual process, but you can see when plant life is in full swing in May, the concentration begins to decrease. If you watch a time lapse of this over many years, it looks a bit like the Earth is breathing. Check it out here!

All Educational Sections